


Loving the alien

by ClueingforBEGGs



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (TV Movie 1996)
Genre: Half-Human, I hope those are the right tags, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-11
Updated: 2020-03-11
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:20:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22939321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClueingforBEGGs/pseuds/ClueingforBEGGs
Summary: They knew that she’s an alien. She knows they’re an alien. Neither of their families would approve if they knew, but they’ll make it work.
Relationships: Penelope Gate/Ulysses | Daniel Joyce, The Doctor's Father/The Doctor's Mother (Doctor Who)
Kudos: 5





	Loving the alien

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from a song, however there’s not many references to the song, so I wouldn’t classify it as a songfic. Actually finished this some time ago, but then didn’t post it for a while. End notes do contain spoilers for the timeless children.

They’re in love with an alien.

It was one of the things they realised as they stepped outside for the first time since they died. This face and body is so new that their robes are way too short for them. There’s a slight... problem with them, somehow. A touch of regeneration sickness, perhaps. Their senses are still working well enough to tell them a few things.

Firstly, theyre in the planet Sol III. An unimportant world with a class three- or was it five? Society. Orbiting one star. This makes sense, they were headed there.

The second is that they’re alone. The last survivor of a group of pilots, not knowing how one person could fly driving mate for six pilots, they’d landed on the next available planet, location random, tone random. They’re going to have to get back home somehow. But for now there’s no Martians to worry about.

Thirdly, as they started at a group of three adults with two children, eating off of a carpet on the ground, one woman making a string of flowers, their right heart literally skipped a beat.

That was probably not alive sort of love at first sight, and was more likely the regeneration sickness.

They walked over. They assume. Something caused them to black out, the memories missing. But now they were talking to the Homo sapiens, the woman, they were pretty sure she was a woman, explaining that she was on a... pick nick? Who was nick, why did they have to choose them? With her sister, brother in law and their child.

‘What about you, what are you doing here?’

‘Travelling.’

‘Oh, not from around here?’

‘No. Quite far away.’ They sighed. ‘I’m going home soon, though.’

‘Do you have a name?’

They panicked. Unprepared for this, they struggled to think of a human name. ‘Uh- Ulysses.’

‘Oh, you’re Greek?’

‘Yup. Greek.’ It wasn’t exactly a lie, they hadn’t thought it up, it was a confirmation of something someone else thought of.

‘Penelope Gate.’ Said the woman, extending a hand.

‘Where?’ They turned around, looking for a gate.’

‘No, silly! That’s my name!’

‘Oh- hah.’ They mentally swore, glad that nobody nearby was telepathic. Then realised the hand was probably there for something, and took it.

‘How long are you staying in England?’

‘Not long.’ They sighed, mentally adding an ‘I hope.’

‘Why, is that because of the rain?’

They blinked, dropping the hand they were still holding. ‘Err-no, no, we have rain where I live.’

‘Really?’

‘Yeah, halfway up a mountain.’

‘They have mountains in Greece?’

They panicked again. ‘Must do.’

They were becoming attached. It would be best to leave. To never return. ‘Sorry- I- I have to go.’

‘Oh, really? So soon?’

‘Sorry.’ They shrug, standing up, brushing green grass from their robes. They needed new robes.

‘Wait- Here- Before you go.’ Penelope held out the flower string. ‘Have this. In case you want to find me again.’

They took it. It was useless to explain that even on Earth, finding someone via flower was very, very, unlikely to succeed.

She watched as they walked away, then turned back to her sister. ‘I think he’s a charming man.’ She commented, as something wheezed, before it abruptly stopped. She turned back to see what it was.

There was nothing there. Not even Ulysses.

‘Wasn’t there a tree right there?’

* * *

She knows that they’re an alien.

She may have missed it before, but now that they’ve just stepped out of a bookcase, which has appeared suddenly in the library, it was quite obvious that they weren’t from Earth.

‘Ulysses?’

‘Nope. Names Daniel Joyce.’

It’s the same person, she knows it. From the way they speak to the way that they dress, although the robes aren’t identical.

Instead of being so short that they were tied around their chest, and finished at their knees, these flowed into the floor. They were also blue, instead of red and gold. To top it off, this time Ulysses, Daniel Joyce, whatever, probably both fake names, had decided to wear a ridiculous red and gold collar, which looked both futuristic and like it belonged to the Elizabethan era. The patterns on it seemed complex enough to be an alien writing system.

Noticing her staring, they sighed. ‘Colleagues robes. My old ones don’t fit. Hate these. They smell of plants.’

‘What’s wrong with plants?’

Ulysses/Daniel sighed ‘err, Penelope-‘

‘So you do remember me!’

‘Yes, yes, you gave me the plants. But, as you may have guessed, I’m not from Greece.’

‘I know. You’re- You’re from... Up there. The stars.’

‘Correct.’

‘How did you find me?’

‘A... Friend asked me to bring some loving versions of those plants. In return he’s elongating my robes and allowed me to borrow his.’

‘So you’re here for flowers?’

‘He wants to see if they grow at home.’

‘And you don’t like flowers?’

‘I’m not Cerulean.’ They said, as if that answered the question.

‘And what’s that, alien hippies?’

‘Yup!’ They grinned. ‘You do have a group called ‘hippies’ which are like Ceruleans.’

‘And your friends is a hippy?’

‘Yes- Well- Er... Technically? He’s a hermit. Lives on the same mountain as I do.’

‘Why do you live on a mountain?’

‘Cause I do? My family does, the rest of my house does, too.’

Well, she guessed, that was an answer.

‘Now, what about those-‘

‘Daisies?’

‘Day sees?’

She laughed. ‘Close enough.’

* * *

He’s dating an alien

With the flip of a switch, they ‘land’ the time-space machine in the middle of space.

‘Go on.’

‘You want me to go outside?’

‘It’s perfectly safe. There’s a forcefield which stops you from suffocating.’

‘Stops me or stops you?’

‘Huh?’

‘Do you breathe oxygen?’

‘Err- Yes? I- You’ve seen me on your planet!’

‘Well, you could breathe something else.’

‘On So- Earth?’ 

‘Yeahp.’

They wince ‘that’s- not right.’

‘You said it was from Earth.’

‘Earth in the future.’

‘And? I’m the Human here, I make the rules.’

With a shake of their head they threw open the doors. The stars are brighter, without the light pollution of Earth’s skies, without the domes over- well, everywhere back home. It helps that their vantage point is from near the centre of the galaxy.

They trace a shape in the stars. A constellation, of some sort. If you could just pick a pint and make any old constellation.

‘Why three?’

‘Eh?’ They jump, annoyed at being caught. Ashamed of doing it, now.

‘You’re drawing hearts in the sky. Why three?’

‘Cause you only have one.’

‘Only?’

‘I have two.’

‘Two!’

They nod, placing her hand over their hearts. And she can feel it. Four distinct beats.

‘How did you know I had one?’

‘Do you want the romantic or the scientific explanation?’

‘Both.’

‘When I met you, we shook hands. And I could feel your pulse, slightly. One heart. Also you’re human, and humans have only one.’

* * *

She’s dating an alien.

They take her to their planet, exchanging her clothes for more traditional clothes of their planet.

‘My people can’t know you’re one of the... ‘Lesser species’ they say, waving two fingers of each hand up and down as they say the last two words. ‘You probably can tell why.’

‘You don’t like us? See us as lesser?’

‘Yeah, basically.’ They smile slightly. ‘Tell my parents you’re from one of the lesser houses of our chapter. They probably won’t ask any more after that, as Lungbarrow is quite high ranking.’

‘And your chapter is?’

They slap themselves in the face. ‘That’s what I forgot! Prydonian. Well, Prydon, but-‘

‘Pry-Don.’

‘Yes.’

‘Well, that’s easy to remember.’ She grinned, opening the door herself, stepping out onto an alien mountainside, with two alien suns.

* * *

They're visiting an alien's parents.

The two of them decided it would be easier to meet her's first, as they're human, and humans in the early 20th century didn't know about the existence of aliens. They're also probably better at pretending to be human than Penelope would be at pretending to be a Time Lord. And so they stood outside a house. A normal house, for Earth. Small, housing one family. A patch of green grass outside.

Two older humans opened the door, grinning. 'You must be Daniel Joyce!' they greet them. 'We've heard so much about you.'

They hadn't, not really. Just what they could be told. Floating in space became stargazing. Gallifrey became 'Galway Bay', whatever that was. Somewhere in Ireland, apparently. But her parents, her sister, the rest of her family. They could never know that, could they?

At the end of the day they stumbled upstairs to Penelope's room. The two of them collapsed onto her bed, tired, happy.

'Humans. So... Simple.'

'That's my species you're insulting.'

'S'not an insult. Simple is good. Sometimes things are better if they're simple.'

* * *

She's visiting an alien's parents.

Again, landing on the red grasses of a planet 29000 lightyears away, she stood on a mountainside. The same mountainside. But this time the two of them headed up the mountain, towards a large building.

'Say you're from a lower-ranked house, they'll accept that. Well, I say accept. They'll be... better about it, they won't ask which one... Hopefully.'

And so she does. She greets the four aliens standing there, welcoming her into their... Well, not their house. She's already in the house. That's another difference between her species and theirs. The houses on Gallifrey contain multiple families, although somewhere, some generations back, though a generation could last a lot longer than a generation on Earth, they must have a common ancestor, she thought.

They welcome her in, there’s some dissent over her use of feminine pronouns, however the majority of people accept them. Much different to what happened with her partner on Earth. She nearly bashed the ridiculously large collar into a doorway, causing one of the young children there to laugh.

‘Loomlings’ they tell her, when they’re alone. Not a common thing in this house. The majority of them time they seem to flock together, often keeping in physical contact. ‘What you’d call babies, or newborns. Though these are a couple of years old. Closer to being Time Tots.’

‘Loomlings?’

‘Fresh out of the loom. How we reproduce.’

She decided not to all anything more.

They were in bed with an alien.

They panted, out of breath from their exertion. ‘That... That was a... Fun workout.’

‘I’m glad you liked it.’

‘Does it... Serve a purpose?’

‘Fun, mostly. And... It’s our equivalent of looming.’

They sat up suddenly. ‘You’re not... you don’t-‘

‘I doubt it. That’s what the thing you put on is for.’

‘How do you know that?’

‘Found them when you took me to the 21st century.’

‘Ah.’ They nodded, laying back down. ‘If we were married. If we could find a way of making a baby...’

‘Maybe.’

‘Maybe?’

‘We’ll discuss it later. When we’re married.’

* * *

She’s engaged to an alien.

It happened so suddenly. Even though she was the one who decided to do it. The gold band was simple, a plain ring. Nothing special to it. She didn’t think there needed to be. And anyway, what could be more special than the sights she’d seen.

It was at sunset on some other planet. It would be the 29th of February, back in the 20th century. She had no idea when or where they were now. Not even how she got into position. Kneeling, a small box with a ring in it open, held up.

They had started at her in confusion. ‘Penelope... What is this?’

‘Proposal.’

‘What do you propose.’

‘That you marry me.’

They had blinked at that. ‘Ok then. And this is a tribute?’

‘Engagement ring. So yes, in a way.’

They took the ring and slipped it on to their finger. Their middle finger.

Laughing, she took it back off and put it in the right finger. ‘That one.’

They’re married to an alien.

The ceremony takes place in a small church in England, early 20th century. They’re wearing a gold tie, with a dark red suit. She’s wearing a white dress she refused to let them see before now. Family and friends of the bride gather around, wearing formal attire. They wonder what the purpose of the young children holding the flowers is.

They say they promise to be with her for the rest of their life. Singular. For obvious reasons, but it catches them off guard. One life wouldn’t be enough for them.

The flowers are thrown. They duck. Someone catches them and everyone congratulated them.

‘She’ll get married next, traditionally.’ Penelope explains.

‘I didn’t know that flowers had that kind of power.’

* * *

She’s married to an alien.

Their next ceremony is on the planet with the two suns. She wears one of those stupid collars, as do t they.

‘How do I look?’ They asked.

‘Ridiculous.’ She told them. ‘Absolutely ridiculous.’

‘Well, so do you... I think I’m starting to see what’s wrong with these.’ They laughed, before wrapping a tie, the tie they wore at the wedding on Earth, along their hands. Then there was a pause, and something tugged at her mind.

‘We’re supposed to tell each other our names, to welcome each other as a member of the family. But I know yours.’ They said. Or thought. She was still getting used to telepathy.

‘I don’t know yours.’

They leaned over and whispered something. Out loud. She returned the favour.

They dropped the tie, the officiates nodded.

They were legally married on two planets.

They were not having a baby with an alien.

At least, not the way they tried. Knowing that the normal human reproduction wouldn’t work, they had suggested a form of artificial creation that some humans used.

‘It’sa bit like looming, in a way. Our genetic material should be combined in a... thing, then put into you.’

But the... Not the loom tech. The test tube tech? Shook his head as he handed them some forms. 

‘Sorry, you have no sperm. We could use donor sperm and your wife’s eggs.’

‘You mean that this doesn’t use other cells?’

‘No? Sir, do you know how reproduction works?’

‘Not in this planet, evidently.’

Penelope kicked them in the shin. ‘They’re joking, again.’ She said ‘always joking about being an alien.’

The test tube tech, if that was the right word, just gave them a look. They sighed.

'I guess there's one more thing we can do.'

She was looming a child.

The genetic material from her and Ulysses, also known as Daniel Joyce, when they had to, were combined before her eyes in a giant tube filled with greenish liquid. She couldn’t see the DNA, but she assumed that everything was fine.

‘Now, looming takes some time. If you’d like to leave some contact details so we can call you when they’re done.’

It was so strange, to her, hearing a cold be talked about as if it was... Well, not done. It continued to be strange, even long after they were told to come down to the loom warehouse.

A cold, fully formed. Their eyes were open, and blue. The same blue as her own.

‘We did it.’ She breathed, as the fluid was pumped away. The... Not a midwife. Some sort of person responsible for making sure everything with the looming went alright, took the child out gently.

And then he- they- although she could see from their body that they were male, screamed. Just like a human baby would, when born.

The loom tech seemed to panic for a bit. ‘They’re screaming. They must be in pain. I’ll need to check them over.’

They’re a child of two species.

They’re four years old when they first find out. Their mother is shouting at their parent. Yelling about how they had every right to go to school on Earth, as they were still half human.

And so they had ran. They ran down the mountain, climbing into a disused barn. They cried a lot that night. They cried when their parents, obviously worried, chased after them.

‘They’ll never make a Time Lord!’ Tells their parent, and they continue to cry. In less than a day they went from having one species, to two, and now none.

They must have been dreaming, because a voice speaks to them. An unknown voice, speaking the language their mother taught them.

Telling them to be brave.

When they’re eight, and leave behind the school their parent eventually agreed to send them to, somewhere on Earth, 22nd century, to go to a different school, on a different planet. In a different time, they run away again.

They return with a single flower. A daisy. Larger than the ones on Earth. Grown very near their home.

In that moment, everything seemed to glow golden, like their parent had, that time on Earth when they electrocuted themself fixing some wires.

**Author's Note:**

> Started writing this before Timeless Children but I don’t think it matters because that just took away from the Doctor’s backstory, IMO. Whilst I have mixed feelings even about the half human thing, I feel this could add something, if done right (unfortunately canon didn’t do it right), yet what happened in that episode just removed that from it.
> 
> (Spoilers start here)
> 
> No matter what Chibnall says, The Doctor is still a child who looked up at the stars and wanted to explore and live among them, not just watch, leading to them leaving, presumably partially due to the fear that Susan could have been indoctrinated. The Doctor is not some super-special person who created the Time Lords.


End file.
